The Houston Astros are coming fresh off of what was their most disappointing finish since their current run of success within the American League began.
Houston was eliminated 2 games to none by the Detroit Tigers and former manager A.J. Hinch in the Wild Card round, and now team brass must turn their focus on how to prevent that from happening again in 2025. While much of the offseason strategy will revolve around what happens with the future of franchise third baseman Alex Bregman, the Astros can’t afford to rest on their laurels and wait around while Bregman’s decision plays out.
Houston must improve this winter, and one of the positions that they can and should start with is the corner opposite of Bregman at first base. After the José Abreu experiment failed miserably and the team cut ties, Jon Singleton started the majority of the year at the position and was certainly not horrible, but an upgrade can absoluely be achieved. Christopher Kline of FanSided suggested in a recent article that Houston should go after former NL MVP and impending free agent Paul Goldschmidt with the Cardinals appearing set to begin a rebuild.
“This is the perfect meeting point between obvious talent and affordability for Houston,” Kline wrote. “Goldschmidt’s age will prevent him from getting a massive contract — he’s one-year rental material — but his bat can absolutely change the fortunes of this Astros squad, especially when sandwiched between all the explosive hitters in the front half of Houston’s lineup.”
Goldschmidt is already 37 and will turn 38 before the 2025 postseason begins as well as the fact that his numbers have already begun to decline steeply over the last two years. But it’s hard not to at least be intrigued considering the fact that just two years ago, he had arguably the best season of his long and storied career and was named the National League MVP.
Kline raised the point that while the numbers were not near up to the high standard in 2024 that Goldschmidt has set throughout his career in St. Louis and Arizona, he is still a quality player with a high ceiling and presents an immediate upgrade to the current situation at first base.
Goldschmidt is exactly the type of player Houston needs to bring in to right the ship and get back to where they belong, playing meaningful baseball deep into October.
